The Seventh
by InterdimensionalHitchhiker84
Summary: Seventh sons are dangerous-a fact well known to the American magical community. Having a seventh son is a crime punishable by death and when Lisa Michaels discovers that she's pregnant with one, what choice does she have but to flee the country and move in with a distant relative-namely Lily Potter. How will this affect the fate of the Potters?


**The Seventh**

_Okay, so this is a super short chapter, but it's the first one and is basically just giving a bit of background to the story. The chapters should get longer. Let me know what you think!_

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its accompanying universe do not belong to me. I don't make any money from my work on this site and I claim only my ideas as my own._

_Enjoy!_

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CHAPTER 1

Joseph Michaels sobbed. Great, heaving sobs. He couldn't breathe through the tears and the mucus. He drug in great, racking breaths as salty water soaked through his bedding. And his clothing. And his wife's hair and dress. Lisa wasn't crying. She clung to him, staring straight ahead, her eyes blank and cold, as if she were no longer able to feel anything. Their children were outside playing.

'Oh Merlin,' Joseph thought through the all-encompassing tears, "How will we tell them? What will happen to us?"

He was thoroughly dehydrated several hours later when he finally managed to pull himself together temporarily. "Lisa," he rasped, "what are we going to do?" She kept staring straight ahead, her light brown hair hanging limply over her face where it had fallen from the clip. A single tear left a track down her right cheek. She sniffed.

Joseph fell into sobs again, this time without the tears because there were none left to give.

oOo

_several hours previous_

"Joe—"

"Lisa, what's wrong?!"

"I'm…I'm…"

"Sshhh…. It's alright." Joseph wrapped his distressed wife in a hug. "What is it, Darlin'?"

"I'm pregnant." She buried her face in his chest. "It's a boy, Joe."

"But Lisa, that's alright. We'll manage somehow. I know money is short, but we'll make it work." She shook her head against him.

"No, you don't understand. There's a law. No one ever looks at it much, because it's mostly irrelevant. Joe, it's…"

"What? What sort of law could possibly be a problem in regards to having a child?"

She sniffed, trying desperately to hold back tears. "Having a seventh son… it's…it's punishable by death." She broke down then, clutching the front of his shirt desperately and sobbing loudly.

Joseph stiffened. 'That doesn't make sense!' he screamed internally. 'How can having seven sons be against the law? Why would it be?'

oOo

Joe didn't know what to do. His wife was in shock. As soon as the government found out she was pregnant—as soon she started to show—she'd be tested. When the baby was found to be a boy, there'd be an investigation, to make sure the child, as well as all the previous ones, were all theirs, then she'd be executed. They'd kill both her and the baby to make sure that it was never born. Joe couldn't understand it. 'How could such a law ever be put into place? Why would it be?'

He wanted to get the law changed, deal with the issue rationally and legally, within the system. It was too big of a risk though. Lisa wouldn't allow it. They told the boys nothing—what could they say?—and booked a flight out of the country. Just before the flight, when Lisa was packing, Joe told his boys that their mother was taking a long trip for work and that she'd be back in about a year. They took it hard, but it was much better than it could have been.

The day of the flight was filled with tearful goodbyes and lingering hugs. Just before Lisa boarded, Joe grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close. "Lisa," he whispered in her ear, "it'll be okay. We'll make it work somehow. I promise." He hugged her tightly for several long moments then kissed her fiercely. When they broke apart, he said, "I love you," and took a step back towards their six children.

She nodded, wiping away tears. "You're going to write," she said. "All of you. At least once a week." Joe smiled and nodded. Lisa stepped into line and boarded the airplane. She was going to London to stay with Joe's second cousin whose father had moved there to marry an art student decades ago. Lily Evans had married and was supposedly mother to a small child now. Joe was worried and Lisa didn't know what she was getting herself into. Lily had sounded reluctant to let them stay, but said it was okay. They'd heard about a civil war going on in Wizarding Britain, but they never had a clue that Lily might be involved in it. After all, she was a muggle, and Britain's magicals weren't nearly so integrated with the muggles as Americans were.

oOo

Lily Potter was worried. Really worried. They were in the midst of a civil war and her father's cousin's wife wanted to move in with them for a while. Gee, what could go wrong there? A muggle. In the middle of a war-stricken wizarding war.

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_I love reviews! _

_-MP_


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